Kerrylied Rally Photos

I'm going to post as I go, so this will be a work in progress for the next hour or so as I continue to upload photos. You can click on the thumbnails to enlarge the images.

We got to the rally at 2 pm. The day was overcast, warm, and humid but the rally area was shaded by enormous trees to either side of the stage. There were flags and signs everywhere. As we walked up, it sounded like the soundtrack from Apocalypse Now - the couple behind me remarked they hadn't heard the song playing for years.

The crowd was dressed in everything from Dockers shorts, polos, and sandals to black leather motorcyle gear and bandanas to business suits and ties. I spotted a few Marines in the crowd and the Naval Academy class of '64 had several in attendance. There were also vets from Ie Drang, featured in the movie "We Were Soldiers Once". Among the speakers (I couldn't get all their names) were emcee James "Moby" Carney, Captain Larry Bailey, Dexter Lehtinan, former POW Jim Warner, John O'Neill, B.G. Burkett (who wrote Stolen Valor), CIA vet Rodrigo Diaz, Army Captain Donna Rowe, Steve Pitkin (who was pressured into testifying at Winter Soldier by John Kerry), and Laura Armstrong (daughter of 'Black Bart' Bartholomew who was killed on Thanksgiving in 1968).

Again, click on the thumbnails to see larger versions of each photo.

The rally started just as we arrived. Someone (it's all blurring now) divided the crowd into two halves, one side shouting "Kerry Lied", while the other side responded "While Good Men Died". Of course the Moonbat Brigade was out in full force, yelling "Bush Lied" and trying to drown out the speakers on the stage. Fortunately the Park Police arrived and cleared them away or forced them to sit down and listen quietly. Midway through the rally we walked to the other side of the crowd, where a young man was sulking in the shade of a tree, flanked by two Park Policemen. Every time he tried to stand, they'd sit him right back down. There were plenty of homemade signs: this one said, "I'm a Vietnam Vet: I have earned the right to protest against John Kerry".

This great sign (complete with three band-aids) said "Kerry, release your medical records now". Others I couldn't get pictures of said, "It's the Karma, stupid", and "Cover the Swift Vets Story".

The banner above this POW/MIA flag says "Kerry lied. POWs died." The crowd was amazingly well-behaved given the level of emotion provoked by the speakers. Several times when mention was made of Kerry's meeting with the North Vietnamese in Paris, cries of "traitor" filled the air.

I especially liked the gentleman's T-shirt in the foreground of this picture. It says, "Democracy is not a spectator sport".

First up was Dexter Lehtinan, an Army paratrooper and Ranger who was seriously wounded in 1971. His recovery took 18 months and many operations - most of his cheekbone was destroyed. Now an adjunct law professor, Mr. Lehtinan retired as a 1st Lieutenant, then graduated first in his class at Stanford Law School. He has served in the Florida House and Senate, was a US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and has argued before the USSC. The Unit and I had seen him just that morning on Washington Journal, where he argued persuasively against another Vietnam Vet who supports Kerry. Despite his scars, he is still a handsome and imposing man.

Lehtinan spoke of his experiences: "I was discharged from a military hospital 18 months and several operations later, almost as good as new from the wounds my enemy had inflicted on me. Those wounds were just flesh and blood. But the wounds inflicted by John Kerry -- the bearing false witness against me and a generation of honorable veterans -- those wounds were much more serious; they went much deeper. Those wounds went to the heart and soul. Those wounds never go away."

"Now we're in another war. Now my son is in the Marine Corps, a weapons officer flying F-18D Hornet jet fighters. That's the Marine Corps Kerry mocked with a book cover showing protesters simulating the flag raising at Iwo Jima, with the American flag upside down. That's the F-18 fighter that Kerry voted against in the Senate. And today John Kerry's picture hangs in an honored place in the enemy's war museum in Saigon, as an honored hero to the Vietnamese communists."

"At least he's a hero somewhere.", he commented wryly.

A combat chaplain (I don't have his name) decorated for valor spoke movingly of departed comrades and how his life had been saved by a young soldier who left the shelter of his bunker and threw himself in front of the chaplain as they took fire from above. Shaken with emotion, he said, (I'm paraphrasing) "I came here because I'm able to - because he gave his life to save mine."

The crowd stood, transfixed, as he spoke, then joined him in a moment of silence to remember fallen comrades. It was a moment I will never forget as long as I live.

B.G. Burkett, author of Stolen Valor, invoked the recent 60 Minutes forgery scandal, relaying how Dan Rather claims to have been a Marine, but actually failed to complete Recruit Training. Burkett discovered this while checking up on Rather's claims after Rather ran a CBS TV documentary, "The Wall Within”, in which he portrayed vets as guilt-ridden, dysfunctional, and mentally disturbed.

Former POW Jim Warner spoke of his time as a prisoner of war and how, one day, his captors confronted him with the testimony of one Lt. j.g. John Kerry that he and his fellow vets were murderers, rapists, and torturers. What impressed me most about this story was the Mr. Warner minimized his ordeal, stating repeatedly that, although the bulk of the torture had stopped by that time, he and other POWs still feared that the Communists would kill them once they were no longer of value. Having read many accounts from former POWs, saying "the torture had stopped" did not turn the Hanoi Hilton into the Waldorf Astoria: POWs still lived in filthy cramped cells and were being starved and ill-treated. But he never dwelt on this aspect of his captivity. I can't imagine the strength it took not to give in to despair after years in that hellhole (he had been there 4 years without being allowed to write home). And then, to read that one of your own was devaluing your service, to have your captors tell you, "See, even your officers (who are charged with the welfare, not only of men under their command, but of the service as well) think you should be punished...". And yet some people think they should "get over it". It struck me that every single speaker seemed not so much angry or bitter, as resolute in their commitment to get the word out about what really happened back then.

Thirty years later, they are still being ignored by the media and told to shut up by various pundits who didn't have to live through what they endured. Amazing.

Swift Vets founder John O'Neill took the stage to loud applause and cheers. O'Neill is always a great speaker: calm, clear, concise, and determined. He appeared moved by the applause, saying "It's good to be among friends". The other great line in his speech came after he had outlined the many reasons Kerry isn't fit to be Commander-in-Chief: "Leave John Kerry in command of the largest vessel he has ever competently handled: a surfboard."

Rodrigo Diaz, a CIA veteran who served in Vietnam, spoke movingly in his quiet, musical Cuban accent of the CIA officers who died there and whose names will not be remembered. He also recalled testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings and related how John Kerry distorted his testimony and refused to allow TV cameras into the closed hearings. Kerry, he said, tried to discredit him by accusing him of receiving bribes. He fought to make his testimony public to set the record straight.

Donna Rowe, an Army Captain and nurse from Massachusetts spoke of the core values she grew up with: courage, commitment, and compassion and added that the military had instilled three more values in her and Vietnam vets: Honor. Duty. Country. She told the tale of Kathleen, an infant rescued from a decimated Montagnard village.

Laura Armstrong spoke of growing up without a father and the pain Kerry's words caused her family. She also told an amazing tale: before he died, her father had saved the life of Rick Rescorla, flying into a dry creekbed or ditch and pulling Rescorla out from under the enemy before they could kill him. Featured in "We Were Soldiers Once", Rick was later to perish in the World Trade Center after his calm leadership saved the lives of thousands of civilians. Once again, one act of uncommon valor out of hundreds committed over 30 years ago was still saving lives today.

Laura emailed me at the end of August and asked me to help get the word out about the rally. I was surprised but honored at the request. Although I didn't have as much luck as I'd hoped with several big-name bloggers I contacted, fellow milbloggers Blackfive and Greyhawk came through. John Hawkins also publicized the event last week. A few other bloggers were kind enough to publicize the rally even without being asked: Feste: A Foolsblog, Stix, Jason Hayes at Musing, and The Everlasting Phelps. A huge thank you to those who gave these vets a forum - if I missed anyone please let me know.

I thought the most moving moment was when Vietnam vet Steve Pitkin took the stage. A soft-spoken man who often appeared overcome by emotion, Mr. Pitkin related how he had come home from Vietnam confused and angry. He fell in with VVAW and told of traveling to the Winter Soldier hearings with John Kerry and Scott Camil. Once there, he was pressured into testifying, although he'd previously told Kerry he never saw atrocities and had nothing to say. His voice breaking at times, Mr. Pitkin apologized to the crowd and said he had no excuses for what he had done. I couldn't help but admire the tremendous courage it must have taken to appear before that crowd and admit that you were one of the men who had accused them 33 years ago. He closed by saying, "Now I've come clean and apologized for what I did." His voice suddenly thundered, "Now it's YOUR turn, Mr. Kerry!". I half expected the crowd to react angrily. But they listened quietly. At the end of Mr. Pitkin's brief speech, the emcee asked the crowd to vote to forgive him. The cheers and clapping were incredible - it was an emotional moment.

As the rally wound down, we strolled to the center of the lawn to see the crowd against the backdrop of the Capitol, where John Kerry threw away his medals (or ribbons...or someone else's medals) in disdain over thirty years ago.

I have been angry with John Kerry since I started blogging back in February. But hearing the words of these brave Americans who suffered so much in the service of their country (and still suffer to this day, although they minimize both their heroism and their pain), I felt even more strongly that this man should not be allowed to become President. If possible, the rally deepened my disgust with John Kerry as a politician and a man. Although there were no media (that I saw) visible, I wished every voter in America could hear their words. And I thought of the words of Shakespeare's Henry V:

I was not angry since I came to France
Until this instant. Take a trumpet, herald;
Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon hill:
If they will fight with us, bid them come down,
Or void the field; they do offend our sight:
If they'll do neither, we will come to them,
And make them skirr away, as swift as stones

Dislogue has more pictures and Powerline has more on Black Bart.

UPDATE: Notice the AP story spends fully half the text talking about what Kerry supporters (fewer than 100 at a rally with from 1500-2000 people in attendence) had to say. So much for objectivity. h/t Dislogue.

UPDATE II: The Washington Times comes through! Also featured in the next post. Thanks to JHD for the tip.

UPDATE III: Sorry you missed the rally? Wondering what's next? Read about Operation Street Corner, a grassroots effort to spread the word. The VVFT will provide the materials.

- Cassandra